Tennis needs great statements and rivalries and, while Simona Halep might not be able to reproduce her French Open heroics at Wimbledon in two weeks’ time – much as Francesca Schiavone met instant disappointment on the grass after winning here in 2010 – she has brought verve and speculation back to the women’s game.

It took Maria Sharapova, four majors to the good and five years older, three hours and two minutes to subdue the 22-year-old over three enthralling sets. It was the Romanian’s debut in a slam final but will hardly be her last, and she could get the chance for revenge against the Russian in another big match before long.

Only Steffi Graf and Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario have laboured longer over the Parisian clay – by a mere two minutes. Incredibly, there had not been a three-set women’s final at Roland Garros for 13 years, a sad indictment of the quality of the competition. There are at least hints that might be about to change.

While the day belonged to Sharapova, the future belongs to Halep and others of her era, including perhaps the 17-year-old Russian Darya Kasatkina who showed resilience and composure beyond her years to win the junior title, the one Halep won in 2008. She was seeded eighth and not expected to stretch the Serbian favourite, Ivana Jorovic, but fought back from unpromising positions to win another three-set final, 6-7, 6-2, 6-3.

Kasatkina was impressively tough on herself afterwards. “I can’t afford to get off to such lousy starts to matches. In the quarter-finals I was 5-1 down and here it was 4-1. You can’t do that in the pros.”

For Halep, defeat felt like victory. “I was crying at that moment [on court, with her towel over her head] for a few minutes, and then I was smiling because I said that it was my first grand slam final, and I have to be happy, to smile, because I did everything on court. I played very good tennis, so I’m really proud about these two weeks.” Sharapova, who got emotional in three languages in the aftermath, was also generous in her praise of the way her opponent stayed the course physically. Nobody had made her fight so hard.

“It’s the most emotional victory for me,” Sharapova said. “The toughest one physically that I’ve come across in a final, especially a grand slam. There are not too many finals that you get past three hours.

“With all that said, to look back seven or eight years and to think that I would be in that position, that I would come through against an opponent that makes you play, and hit and run, and hits so many shots, and recover in conditions that start from cold to being warm.”

That was the abiding memory of the final: the side-to-side retrieving, the charging for chips and drop shots, the whizz-bang passing shots down both flanks – and some horrendous serving, most of it from Sharapova, who 12 times handed Halep a free point, either hitting the net or going way long.

Her serve has been her bugbear since her shoulder operation six years ago, and it is a mark of her grit that she has triumphed despite it.

While the new brigade are charging over the hill in numbers, Sharapova, 27, survives still – and wins. It is a decade since she announced her arrival at Wimbledon as a teenage prodigy by beating Serena Williams in the final, something she has been unable to do again. “It’s incredible to be sitting here 10 years after my first grand slam win, and to think that I now have five,” she said, still clutching her over-sized silver trophy. Who’s to say she won’t make it six when she returns to Wimbledon in two weeks’ time?